Quebecers urged to say au revoir to 'Bonjour-Hi'

The National Assembly voted unanimously to ask merchants to "warmly" greet their clients instead with 'Bonjour'

QUEBEC — Deciding Quebecers needed a course in “hospitality 101,” the National Assembly is formally asking merchants to warmly greet clients with “Bonjour,” and drop the old standard “Bonjour-Hi.”

A resolution to that effect, sponsored by the Parti Québécois, sailed through the legislature Thursday morning following a short debate over semantics and considerable angst on the government side over the potential for an international Pastagate 2 incident.

It was unanimous, with 111 votes cast and the Liberals, Coalition Avenir Québec and Québec solidaire MNAs endorsing it alongside PQ counterparts.

Anglophone Liberal MNAs Kathleen Weil, Geoffrey Kelley and David Birnbaum all voted with their party in favour of the motion. So did other Liberal MNAs representing ridings with large populations of English-speaking Quebecers such as Martin Coiteux, Pierre Arcand and Carlos Leitão.

No ministers were willing to discuss their decision to support the motion, sweeping past reporters in the hallway or referring them to the minister responsible for the Charter of the French Language, Marie Montpetit, who also refused to comment.

“I think we can move on to other things,” was all she said.

The move – trending on social media under the hashtag #bonjourhi – comes days after the Couillard government stepped up efforts to re-build bridges with an estranged English-speaking minority by creating its own secretariat.

At a policy convention last weekend, the party adopted motions specifically stating all new government bills, regulations and policies would be assessed to evaluate the impact on the English community.

In his speech opening the convention, Premier Philippe Couillard described the Liberals as “a party for all Quebecers, French- and English-speaking.”

There was nothing conventional about the way Thursday’s motion got adopted. Couillard – who said a day earlier he personally prefers Quebecers, including English-speaking Quebecers, use just “Bonjour” in shops – and PQ leader Jean-François Lisée indulged in very public negotiations in question period to hammer out the wording.

Usually such issues are hashed out by aides in an anteroom before they get to the floor of the assembly.

Lisée kicked off the debate Wednesday when he invoked new Statistics Canada data on the level of bilingualism in the workplace, to accuse the Liberal government of having a nonchalant “jovial,” attitude toward protecting French.

He called the traditional merchant greeting of “Bonjour-Hi” a symbol of galloping bilingualism, and then invoked the word “irritant” implying French and English were on equal footing.

The PQ walked in Thursday proposing the legislature declare “Bonjour-Hi” an “irritant,” an expression first uttered by the minister Montpetit herself in an interview with TVA’s Mario Dumont.

Struggling in the polls and desperately seeking a cause, the PQ made sure the word “irritant” snowballed.

On Thursday, a visibly uncomfortable Couillard had a choice: disavow Montpetit or try and patch together a last-ditch compromise. His tactic was to insist the PQ go back to the drawing board and remove the word “irritant.”

“Words have meaning,” Couillard told the house. “What he (Lisée) wants to do here is create an artificial crisis, a confrontation between the English language and the French language. All he has to do is withdraw a sentence (from the motion).

“If he intends to invite (people to change expressions), we agree. If he wants to regulate, pass legislation, play the police in the stores, then we don’t agree.”

“We’re not interested in getting involved in a Pastagate 2,” Couillard added.

In 2013, Quebec language inspectors tried to crack down on the Buonanotte Restaurant in Montreal for using a menu with Italian words, including “pasta,” and “calamari”, without equivalent French translations.

The result was a public-relations disaster for the province with the incident making international headlines. There were countless cartoons and columns mocking Quebec’s linguistic policies.

The direct result was the resignation of the head of the language watchdog agency.

On Thursday, Lisée seized the Couillard olive branch and made a run for it; offering to drop the word “irritant” in exchange for a unanimous vote of the National Assembly and all the symbolic bells and whistles that implies.

“If we say together in Quebec we are making progress, perfect,” Couillard said. “That we invite merchants to greet clients with the word Bonjour, perfect. If he proposes a joint motion of this nature, it will be a grand success.”

The final wording of the motion – which is not actually binding on anyone and does not carry the clout of a law or regulation – states the National Assembly reaffirms French is the official and common language of Quebec and that it recognizes 94 per cent of Quebecers understand French.

It then notes Bonjour is one of the most recognized words in the French language and that it “magnificently reflects the hospitality of Quebecers.”

“As a result, it (the National Assembly) invites all merchants and their employees who have contact with local and international clients to warmly greet them with the word ‘Bonjour’.”

For Lisée, who leads a party trailing third in opinion polls, the political victory is well timed. On Sunday his caucus meets in Montreal with the party’s national executive to assess what it can do to advance the sovereignist cause.

Lisée, who was once the PQ minister responsible for the English community, reacted to the motion being adopted in an email to the Montreal Gazette.

“I’m sure a great number of Quebec anglophones feel that ‘Bonjour-Hi’ is an inclusive, welcoming expression and don’t see where the problem is,” Lisée wrote. “As the Montreal Gazette reported Thursday, 80 per cent of Quebecers feel otherwise and wish to be greeted in French.

“It is a simple mark of respect to our official and common language and an acknowledgement that this corner of North America has its own character.

“The word ‘Bonjour’ is easily understood by all. I’m glad the National Assembly could be unanimous in inviting everyone to use it.”

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